A newly launched public consultation process on Canada’s newest National Park Reserve, in the South Okanagan-Similkameen region of BC, is providing Canadians a long-awaited opportunity to help secure the future for Canada’s most at-risk grassland ecosystem and the wildlife that live there. The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society’s BC Chapter (CPAWS-BC) welcomes this announcement made by the federal, provincial, and Okanagan Nation governments.

On December 5th, the Province of BC unveiled its most robust plan ever to tackle climate change, incorporated into a Clean BC Plan. The strategy includes fully funded commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across multiple sectors and, notably, it includes legislation for climate accountability. The plan supports and makes mandatory for the provincial government to achieve 75 percent of the pre-Paris Accord 2030 reduction targets, and commits to closing the 25 percent shortfall within an 18-24 month window.

Following the federal government’s designation of a 5,025-square kilometer Northern and Southern Resident Killer Whale critical habitat (CH) zone off the southwest coast of Vancouver Island, 17 Island Chambers of Commerce have united to protect the marine-based tourism on which they depend and urge the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to carefully weigh potential management measures that could harm their coastal communities, destroy thousands of business and jobs, and impact tourism revenue across Vancouver Island.

The 2018 AGM for Millard-Piercy Watershed Stewards will take place Thursday, November 15 starting at 7pm in the Common House of Creekside Commons located at 2202 Lambert Drive, Courtenay. Guest speaker, Paul de Greeff, will make a presentation entitled “Green Infrastructure in Victoria—Making Headway”. Paul is a Registered Landscape Architect based in Victoria.

Today, the federal government announced that it has refused to issue an emergency order to protect endangered killer whales under the Species at Risk Act, despite the Ministers of Fisheries and Oceans, and of Environment and Climate Change making a recommendation for one.

Comox Strathcona Waste Management is reminding residents of the Comox Valley Regional District and the Strathcona Regional District to dispose of their pumpkins in an environmentally responsible manner this Halloween. When a pumpkin ends up in the landfill it does not break down as it would in a compost pile. The pumpkins decompose without oxygen, producing leachate and methane gas which is harmful to the environment.

The Comox Valley Photographic Society (CVPS) has teamed up with Rhodos Coffee and Project Watershed to showcase images of the K’ómoks Estuary in support of the efforts to purchase and restore Kus-kus-sum. The photographs are part of a larger project called “A Year in the Estuary” that the Photographic Society started this summer and will complete next year.

The Sustainability Action Group for the Environment (SAGE) is hosting an informational evening on the impact of wood smoke on public health and what changes are needed to improve our air quality. “The quality of our air is an important social determinant of our health,” noted Helen Boyd, the event organizer. “Yet we have multiple air advisories every year in the Comox Valley. This talk is a great opportunity to learn more about how wood smoke—whether from wood stoves or from wildfires—affects our well-being.”